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Call It a Tragedy
Call It a Tragedy is an American pop punk band from Orlando, Florida. Active since 1999, the band experienced a slow, steady increase in popularity with first two albums Call It What You Want (1999) and Twelve More Songs (2002), which led to their major-label signing to Wreckway Records and the subsequent success of albums Hell Yeah (2004), Hell Yeah: Part II (2005) and eventually, after a four year hiatus due to internal arguments from within the band, Hell Yeah: Part III (2011), all of which produced hit songs such as "Our Song", "Love Song", "Rock Song", "Dance Song", "Party Song", "Sad Song", "Holiday Song", "Drugs Song", "Trashy Song", "Your Song", and "Sex Song". The band has said they will release one more album with the Hell Yeah title, most likely to be called Hell Yeah: Part IV, before moving on with a new style of music. History 1999-2001: Formation & debut album In the summer of 1999, singer-songwriter/guitarist Stephen DeHolles (born December 29, 1991), going into third grade, joined bassist Tyler Johnson (born August 5, 1990), and drummer Richard White's (born November 13, 1989) newly formed band Call It a Tragedy after an audition in which Johnson and White both considered "the best, by far, of all the auditions they had". They self-released their debut album, Call It What You Want, November 20, 1999, and also self-released three singles from it, titled "Awesome", "If You Must", and "Our Song", and, though the first two did not chart, the third one peaked at #77 on the Billboard Hot 100 because of a humorous feature in a viral video uploaded by Danny Jacobson and Patrick West. They began promoting the album throughout the remainder of 1999 and throughout 2000, recognized as a punk rock-kid band. 2001-2003: Twelve More Songs In fall 2001, starting seventh grade, the members decided it was time to write new material for a second album, and, with the success of their 1999 song "Our Song", they were able to sign with independent label HolyCheeseBurg Records. The album, Twelve More Songs was produced through the former half of 2002, and released on June 1, 2002. The band released two singles from the album, titled "Not Thinking of You" and "Why It Doesn't Matter", though neither charted on any major charts. This achieved them underground success, with the album peaking at #199 on the Billboard 200 and resulted in a state-wide tour through Florida that lasted through 2002 and 2003. 2003-2006: Hell Yeah, Hell Yeah: Part II & mainstream success In mid 2003, shortly before production of their third studio album was to begin, they were noticed by Jonathan Wreckway, owner of Wreckway Records, who, enjoying their new pop punk style, signed them to Wreckway Records, making them, at age thirteen/fourteen, one of the youngest artists to be signed to a major record label. Production spanned roughly from September 2003 through December 2003. Titled Hell Yeah, the album was released May 7, 2004, and produced the hit singles "Love Song", "Rock Song", and "Dance Song", all of which peaked within the Top 20 of the Hot 100 but did not break the Top 10; still, all three managed Platinum certifications by the RIAA. This success led them to participate in a tour spanning several countries, officially named the Call It a....World Tour!!, which, also becoming their reason for dropping out of high school sophomore year, lasted from May 21, 2004 (two weeks after the album was released, and the day school let out)through April 11, 2005, through four countries (U.S., Canada, Britain, and Australia). They decided to take a three week break from music before beginning work on a fourth studio album. As promised, the band began work on their fourth album. Production (writing/recording) spanned from May-June 2005, a relatively quick process. The album, titled Hell Yeah: Part II was released June 12, 2005, and had a similar sound to the band's previous album, Hell Yeah, and performed as well, too, becoming their first debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 (Hell Yeah peaked at #2), and sold equally as many records as the previous album, approximately 4,000,000. The main difference was the success of the singles, "Party Song" and "Wherever You Want", which peaked at #5 and #12, respectively, and the Top 25 hit "Sad Song" which peaked at #25. The band, due to the immense success of both albums, went on a second, bigger world tour, titled: Call It a....Nuthuh World Tour!!, which, this one being even longer, was scheduled to last for almost a year, from June 22, 2005-April 30, 2006. 2005-2009: Indefinite hiatus & Call It a Tragedy: The Hits! Starting in late 2005, the band was progressively arguing with each other. After almost half a year of touring, all band members were reportedly "exhausted and very moody", according to the band manager. One major problem was bassist Johnson's persistent accusations of DeHolles leaving the band, largely due to him releasing, "All Night", a successful single, in December 2005, as a solo single he'd written without the knowledge of the other band members. DeHolles accused Johnson of jealousy and paranoia. While White stayed out of the majority of arguments, and often acted as the peacemaker between Johnson and DeHolles, sometimes he was unsuccessful. On December 29, after Johnson trashed DeHolles' house party for his sixteenth birthday, DeHolles confronted Johnson the next morning and Johnson allegedly shoved him, telling him to "fuck off", and also claimed the band was his and that DeHolles wasn't in it anymore. The two parted ways and when White was informed, he suggested that "a little time off" may be the solution for the band members. The band officially announced they'd broken up the next day, on December 31, 2005. This resulted in the rest of the tour being cancelled (January-April 2006), the last date played having been December 12, 2005. About a year later, the record label, with the band's permission, on January 17, 2007, released a Greatest Hits! album, Call It a Tragedy: The Hits! which contained all of their previous singles; they also included two unreleased tracks from Hell Yeah: Part II, titled "Just How It Is" and "Let Me Rain on Your Day", and one previously unreleased song from their 2004 album Hell Yeah, titled "Holiday Song", and . "Holiday Song" and "Just How It Is" were released as singles through late 2006 and early 2007, and were relatively successful, with "Holiday Song" peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Just How It Is" at #21. However, this wasn't enough to convince the band to get back together, which was the record label's (and their fans') hope. Through the remainder of 2006, vocalist/guitarist Stephen DeHolles toured from the success of his June 2006 album DeHolles, which he had recorded partially from previously written material and from a few new songs as well. This resulted in DeHolles' 2009 follow up, A Toast to This, which continued his success as a solo artist. Meanwhile, bassist Tyler Johnson went home to his girlfriend of three years, having not spend as much time with her as he'd like to have in throughout the majority of their relationship; drummer Richard White joined about ten to fifteen bands over the course of the hiatus and was dissatisfied with all of them. 2009-2010: Reformation & Hell Yeah: Part II & a Half Largely due to fan letters begging Call It a Tragedy to "forget the past and make up" through virtually the whole time of their hiatus, the members of the band decided to give reforming a shot and attempt the fifth album again. Them getting back together was publically announced in January 2009. The band originally intended to make Hell Yeah: Part III but instead began work on an EP. The writing/recording process began directly after a semi-world tour spanning from February-June 2009, and the EP was considered complete by August. The first single from the album, "Drugs Song", was released July 22, 2009. It became the most popular song from the album, debuting/peaking at #8, arguably due to its controversial topic subject matter. The second and third singles, "Hope You're Listening" and "Trashy Song", were less successful, peaking at #95 and #41, respectively, though "Trashy Song" was certified Gold in the US. The EP was released September 22, 2009. Titled Hell Yeah: Part II & a Half, it debuted/peaked at #3, eventually being certified Platinum by the RIAA and considered a commercial success. Hell Yeah: Part II & a Half was followed by an untitled world tour from October 2009-May 2010. 2010-present: Hell Yeah: Part III With the album's production planned to be through the summer of 2010, they originally had intended to go a different direction with their music, feeling they had all been changed by the hiatus, but after some talking and writing, they decided to stick with their previous sound and keep the album's title Hell Yeah: Part III. Recording was done through fall, and the first single was released November 15, 2010, titled "Your Song", and has peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, their most successful song at the time. The song, was, however, largely due to extensive advertising and media coverage regarding Call It a Tragedy's return as a band. The album, Hell Yeah: Part III was released March 21, 2011, two weeks after the release of the album's second single, "Sex Song", on March 7, 2011, which was arguably their most crude and immature song to date; ironically, the song debuted at #1 on the Hot 100, becoming their first #1 hit single in the US and their most successful song to date. This resulted in the album debuting at #1 and selling 425,000 copies in its first week, becoming Call It a Tragedy's most successful album to date. The third single from the album, titled "#1", will be released May 1, 2011, and the fourth/final, "Break Up Song", is expected to be released in July 2011. Call It a Tragedy's tour plans are another world tour, titled Call It a....Third World Tour!!, with dates planned from March 25, 2011-January 12, 2012, so far. Future Call It a Tragedy has plans to release another "Hell Yeah" related album, possibly before the end of 2012, before moving on to "something else". Reception Call It a Tragedy's success has been largely met with negative reviews to mainstream music critics, largely because of the band's "immature, degrading" style, and their promotion of materialism, casual sex, and tendency to look down upon women. In an album review for Hell Yeah: Part III, Johnny Cockducker had this to say: "While I must admit I was astouded for the longest time that Call It a Tragedy had lasted so long, with hit after hit after hit, that I actually expect them to last a hell of a lot longer, too, in the mainstream market, and what amazes me is that they've been around for over 5 years and their, just, what, in their early twenties? Most artists who make it into the mainstream don't until their thirties or so. Their success has been so powerful that it has been influential to many new artists, as their new pop punk sound, which blends hip hop elements with punk rock elements, has begun to dominate the charts thanks to this influence upon these new artists. Still though, I can't tell you how much I hate them It a Tragedy." Despite the negative critical reception, throughout Call It a Tragedy's history, they have garnered hundreds of thousands of fans and are arguably considered the most successful band of their time, due to the waning popularity of rock music and their ability to produce multiple mainstream hits, unlike many other rock bands of the 21st century. Tours *''The Twelve More Songs Tour'' (2002-2003) *''Call It a....World Tour!!'' (2004-2005) *''Call It a....Nuthuh World Tour!!'' (2005-2006) *Untitled 4th Tour (2009-2010) *''Call It a....Third World Tour!!'' (2011-2012) Discography :Main article: Call It a Tragedy discography *''Call It What You Want'' (1999) *''Twelve More Songs'' (2002) *''Hell Yeah'' (2004) *''Hell Yeah: Part II'' (2005) *''Hell Yeah: Part III'' (2011) EPs *''Hell Yeah: Part II & a Half'' (2009) Compilations *''Call It a Tragedy: The Hits!'' (2007) (Deluxe Edition: 2011)